


Four kids and a turtle.

by Werepirechick



Series: Mecha Turtles Timeline Fics [1]
Category: Teenage Mecha Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Developing Friendships, Families of Choice, Family Bonding, First Meetings, Future Fic, Gen, Growing Up, Loss of Parent(s), Martial Arts, Old Michelangelo (TMNT), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Team as Family, Trans Female Character, Unconventional Families, i love adding family tags to stuff, mikey has four kids and he loves them to bits okay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-11-14 15:05:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11210571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werepirechick/pseuds/Werepirechick
Summary: Like his father before him, Mikey adopts four kids.





	1. Kusama

**Author's Note:**

> i'm still so so so SO obsessed with that short that came out a while ago, and i just HAD to write a "first meetings" fic for old mikey and his kids.
> 
> i'm so proud of him, he grew up so good and settled down happily and adopted four kids just like his dad. here's to hoping he's a better sensei than his dad was. (i know he will be, he's a terrible little shit but not a half bad sensei.)
> 
> also: kusama is already my daughter and i love her with every fiber of my being.

 

 

Mikey meets Kusama first.

There are a hundred things about society that’ve gotten better over the decades. A hundred thousand, even. Donnie would probably know better than him about the specifics; Mikey still tends to just take things as they come at him. A leftover sort of survival instinct from years of living just by what he could get. If things are good, they’re good, and he doesn’t poke too closely at it.

But even with those hundred thousand things being better than they used to be, there are still places in the city where things aren’t better. That’s one thing that’s never seemed to change about New York, no matter what skyscrapers went up or who was in government.

Mikey tends to wander a lot, in his old age. He’s long since done his share of fighting, and he’s mostly enjoying his retirement as the permanent vacation it is. It gets boring on occasion, but he’s always got his family to call up if he feels like finding something interesting to do.

Or, there’s always the option of wandering.

Mikey wanders nearly every day, even if his knees sometimes ache a little. He takes his walking stick and reminds himself that clothing isn’t optional for his strolls, and goes out to enjoy the freedom he and his family fought for years to establish.

The integration of mutants and aliens into society, the population large enough now that it equals some portions of humanity, is the best change to his life in Mikey’s opinion. Otherwise, he never would have been able to wander deep into the less cared for portions of Neo-China town in broad daylight, and see a collection of children cheering on a brawl.

That alone is enough to make Mikey stop for a moment, peering down the alleyway towards the compound the group of children have placed themselves in. A part of him that’s still young looks on in interest- he never was the sort to turn away from things that seemed entertaining- and an older, wiser part of him listens to the gut feeling he’s got budding.

The shortest member of the group, all elbows and thin limbs, attacks the other fighter with a shrill howl. Mikey has only been watching for a few seconds, but he can already tell she’s winning.

The itty-bitty girl, with _pigtails_ of all things, gives a vicious series of blows to the larger boy she’s fighting. With that, she finally forces him out of the crudely painted ring they’re fighting in, and raises her arms in a victory scream.

Mikey tilts his head, watching money move between the onlookers. The little girl who’s just won the fight swipes at her bleeding nose, and holds out a demanding hand to someone who’s counting the largest sum of bills. She and the girl she’s demanding money from don’t look older than fourteen, maybe even younger, and Mikey’s heart goes out to them and the other kids dispersing. Even the older boy who’d probably thought he could make an easy buck out of beating a little girl up.

Society might have improved in a hundred thousand ways, but Mikey knows as well as anyone who lives around here that not everything has gotten better.

The bulk of the group leaves, skinny kids clutching money or mourning their lack of it escaping back into the grottos that make up the maze of buildings. Only the little girl who’d won and a few others remain.

Mikey takes all of a second to ascertain that there’s a fight brewing again, as the three larger kids make a move at the small girl. They probably think that now that she’s tired, alone, and thinks she’s won- she’ll be an easy target.

Mikey has spent a lot of years at the side of someone who was small and fiery at a younger age, and knows that the two boys and girl are probably very, very wrong.

But, even though he knows she’ll be able to handle herself fine, Mikey decides it’s perhaps time a meddling old turtle get into things.

“Excuse me,” He says entering the compound and making his presence known for the first time. All four children spin and stare at him. He smiles pleasantly as they do. “I think I went and lost my way a couple streets back, any of you dudes know the right way to the nearest bus stop?”

“Fuck off, old man,” One of the boys spit, sneering at Mikey. “This isn’t any place for senile mutie.”

Mikey hums. He hasn’t heard that insult in a while. “No? And here I was thinking we all had equal rights.”

The small girl is giving him a confused and slightly offended look, and the other, older girl pulls a knife.

Mikey decides it’s likely time to end this whole thing.

“Are you sure you kids wouldn’t be able to get me on the right street? I have a cat at home to feed, and she gets _so_ cranky when I don’t give her dinner on time.”

“We said _fuck off!”_ The knife girl yells, advancing at him with sloppy threat.

Mikey gives her a sad smile. “Kid, I’m sorry your life is shitty enough it drove you to this, I really am.”

She shrieks angrily, and Mikey catches her feet with his walking stick as she her partners run at him.

He goes easy on them; flipping them all off balance and knocking them on their backs. He smacks the knife out of the girl’s hand, using his stick like a club and yelling, _“FORE!”_ as he does. The knife goes flying, like the crappy little switchblade it is, and that leaves three very shocked kids on the ground.

Make that four shocked kids. The small girl is staring at him with eyes so wide they might pop out of her head.

Mikey leans on his walking stick, and gives them all a grin. “Now how ‘bout you all run on home and find something a little more productive to do with your lives, eh?”

 _“Shit!”_ Is the parting words he gets in response, as the three kids- geeze, they’re probably not even proper teens yet- get off the ground and book it into the nearest alley.

Mikey sighs, and hopes they find something that’ll get them on a better path in life. He’s seen too many people go bad over the years.

With the retreat of the other three, it leaves the small girl alone. She’s still clutching her winnings tightly, and giving him a look of awe.

Mikey inclines his head in greeting, looking the girl over. “That sure was somethin’, huh kid? Not every day I find children beating each other up for sport.”

The girl snaps out of her awe, and gives him a prize winning snarl. She’s missing teeth all over the place, and is too tiny to be intimidating. “The hell do you care? It’s a fight and I _won_ the fight. Got paid, too. Why would some mutie give a shit?”

“Now hey, that’s a lot of harsh words in one go,” Mikey says. “Might wanna slow down there, you’ll use ‘em all up.” The girl starts looking even more defensive, so he changes topics. “You got a name?”

The girl pauses, hesitating for a beat, and then says, “Kusama.”

Mikey nods, and gives her a smile. “Nice name. Mine’s Michelangelo. You got a place to go right now, Kusama? That nosebleed’s getting bad.”

Kusama seems to finally notice red is trickling off her chin, and wipes at it hastily. She’s a mottle of bruises and dirt all over, and one of her pigtails got pulled out in the fight. It makes her look a lot like a dumbass kid from downtown New York Mikey knew, and still knows.

The teeth are what really make it.

“Got my aunt’s,” Kusama says, and Mikey can hear the lack of attachment in her voice. “But dunno if I’ll go. I got a bunch of cash and a lot of arcade games calling my name. I could just find a bathroom on the way.”

Mikey considers that for a moment. “Well, how about we go find one of my favorite restaurants instead, patch that in a bathroom there, and then go see a place that’s got games three times older than you. I’m betting you haven’t seen any of them before.”

Kusama gives him a rightfully wary look. “I’m not supposed to go off with strangers, duh. How the hell am I s’pposed to know you’re not gonna drug me and sell me off somewhere?”

“Well, I don’t have much more than my word to give, so I guess you’ll just have to trust me on things,” Mikey says blithely. Then adds, “What if I showed you how I took down those three kids?”

 _That_ gets Kusama’s attention.

“ _Yes please!”_ She exclaims loudly. She waves her arms around, in approximation to what Mikey had done. “You were all like- _bwam!_ And then _whack!_ And then they were all on the ground and that was _so cool._ I _have to know_ how you did that!”

“Later,” Mikey promises, starting back out of the alley intersection. “I think some napkins and pizza-tacos are in order, first.”

Kusama follows him, stuffing her hard won money into the big pockets of her cargo shorts. Her messy hair bounces as she hurries to keep up, tiny legs working double time to keep up with Mikey’s steps. She’s so small, it kind of makes Mikey want to hug her a bunch and probably never let her go.

She’d probably punch him in the jaw for that, and grin while she did. She really does remind him of some crazy kids he used to run around on rooftops with.

Kusama tells him later, when he asks, that she fights because she likes it. She likes the adrenaline, and she likes the victory of winning. The money helps, since she can shove whatever she doesn’t spend on games into a jar of emergency funds her aunt doesn’t know she helps with. Plus, and she says so very brightly, “-fighting is _fun._ I love preeeeeetty much everything about it. My dad used to be a pro cage fighter, but then he broke his arm real bad one time and couldn’t get back into it after.”

“What’s he do now?” Mikey asks, pushing another pizza-taco to the tiny brawler sitting across from him.

Kusama takes the taco, and rips open the wrapping to bite into it. “Dunno, don’t care. He and mom went off a couple years back, never came back. My aunt’s all I got.”

Mikey feels like wrapping Kusama in a big squishy hug all over again, hearing that explanation.

In the end, she declines his offer to go back to his home- smart of her, she wouldn’t have gotten where she was if she wasn’t- but Mikey gives her another offer.

“How about we meet once a week? I still haven’t shown you those moves I promised.”

Kusama lights up like the firecracker she is, and agrees enthusiastically.

It takes a bit, but eventually she does follow him home one afternoon, after a few weeks of lessons in public parks. Bringing Kusama into the lair is pretty amazing- living off the grid is great, no matter what Donnie says- and she turns into a miniature whirlwind as she explores every inch of it.

Mikey smiles, sits on the couch as she does, and thinks he might be able to get used to having loud voices in his home again.

Kusama starts dropping by almost every day, once she’s comfortable and trusts him enough, and Mikey never turns her away even once.

 

 

 

 _“You adopted a kid?”_ Donnie asks incredulously when Mikey finally tells him about Kusama. He’s giving Mikey a Look over the video chat line, and Mikey just shrugs.

“Eh, kind of? She spends enough time here.”

_“…well, one of us was bound to take after master Splinter, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be me.”_

“I don’t think it’s quite that bad yet. It’s not like I’m training her or nothing- oh wait, yeah I am. Maybe it is that bad.”

_“And you said she street fights? For fun?? Mikey.”_

“Hey, either I teach her to kick people's asses properly, or someone’ll get lucky with her.”

Donnie’s wrinkly old face gives him a patented _‘Mikey no’_ look that everyone in their family has perfected.

Mikey gives him his patented _‘Mikey YES’_ smile in return.

Donnie sighs at the ceiling of his workroom, the sound making the speakers echo weirdly.

_“Just don’t teach her anything serious too soon, alright? Being a teacher is hard work, and you have to be careful about how your students use the knowledge you give them.”_

“And you’d know that why…?”

 _“Do you know how many interns and grad students I’ve had to reteach everything they_ thought _they knew? Too many. And they’re all adults, or teenagers, I guess… Kusama is a kid, Mikey. Please be careful with what you teach her.”_

“I taught her how to roundhouse kick the other day. She’s such a natural, Dee, you don’t even know it.”

_“That’s what I’m afraid of.”_

Mikey laughs, and Donnie sighs again.

 

 


	2. Basque.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phhhbt- this chapter is a little long, augh.
> 
> also, i remembered that kusama is japanese and not chinese shortly after posting the last chapter, and idk let's all pretend that people in the future are still assholes and named the general area of asian heavy residences 'china town'.

 

 

Mikey meets Basque second.

There’s something to wandering through green spaces that really sets Mikey at ease. It reminds him of what being on the farmhouse property is like; walking through woods and fields and just enjoying the smell of living things. Being a mutant turtle requires certain things of him, and vegetation is one of those things. Salads and long walks in a park are things he uses to meet those needs.

Sometimes he likes nature trails, long paths into the trees that he meets few people on. Sometimes he likes crowded parks, filled with adults and children alike. The ones most densely populated with kids are the ones in the middle class living areas. Enough money to go around that the parks get a good budget for upkeep; Mikey appreciates the less loved parts of the world, since he himself was raised in them, but sometimes it’s just nice to walk through a good neighborhood. Less need to wonder if there’s mugging in the alley, or a car theft occurring around the corner, and so on.

He’s old; he’s going to indulge in the security of nicer things now and again. The cramped alleys and filthy streets of the city’s lowest level won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

Mikey is wandering through one of his favorite parks when he meets Basque. Or more accurately, when he spots him.

Why Basque caught Mikey’s eye was because while every other kid was in a whirlwind of motion- a couple dozen kids, alien, mutant, and human alike, all running around on the playground- there was one lone kid sitting to the side of things.

Mikey pauses, watching the boy from across the chaotic playground.

The darkness of his skin makes the bright purple mohawk on his head stick out, both sides of his skull shaved. He’s big for his age, as far as Mikey could tell. Broad shouldered and with large hands. Large hands that are very carefully working with tiny tools, poking at something perched across his lap.

Mikey catches a flicker of movement on one side of the thing in the kid’s lap, and the boy smiles widely at whatever it is.

Mikey smiles to himself, and starts to turn away. But, more movement catches his eye, and he glances back.

Another boy, smaller than the other but with a posture that makes up for it. Mikey watches the other boy talking to the first one, noting that other kids are starting to crowd around the two of them.

The mohawk boy is making placating gestures, looking slightly nervous, and before he can stop the other from doing so, whatever he’d been working on is snatched off his lap by the second kid.

Mikey frowns. He doesn’t like where this is heading.

He hears the shouted _“Don’t break it!”_ clear across the playground as whatever mohawk boy had been working on starts getting tossed around.

“We’re just playing, chill out, bear-boy!” Is the loud retort. “C’mon, show us what your toy can do.”

Mikey waits for ‘bear-boy’ to fight back, since he’s much bigger than any of the kids bothering him, but he doesn’t. He just keeps making desperate gestures with those big hands of his, and doesn’t strike out at any of his aggressors.

Ah, gentle giant type. Understandable. Mikey supposes he’ll have to intervene, then.

He steps down into the sand of the playground, and starts wading through the crowd of children that’s avidly watching the fight. He pushes a couple aside with his walking stick, and readies himself to call out to stop the fight.

But before he can, a tiny brown blur bursts out of the crowd, and headbutts the thief kid straight in the gut. Making him drop the stolen object, and forcing mohawk kid to dive to grab it.

 _“PISS OFF!”_ A tiny bear mutant shouts at the gasping thief kid. He’s got a mouthful of teeth and a determined look in his eye, and oh Mikey just thinks he’s downright adorable.

“Carter- Carter, come on, they were just playing around,” Mohawk kid says, trying to pull Carter back from the fight. “Let’s just go.”

Carter makes an angry growl, and kicks sand at the kid he’d headbutted. Said kid splutters as sand hits his face, and whoops the other kids who are probably with headbutted kid are moving in. Can’t have that, it’d just escalate things all over the place.

Mikey steps into the clearing in the middle of the crowd, pushing aside the last couple kids in front of him to do so. Carter and headbutted kid’s attention is on him immediately, and so is everyone else’s. There’s a beat of staring, because oh no an _adult,_ and then the crowd starts dispersing. All the middle class and upper middle class kids making themselves scarce again, now that ‘authority’ has gotten involved with things.

Ah upper city levels, there’s so much less stabbing and punching involved here. Just a lot of underhanded power plays and mind games. Donnie and April fit right in.

Headbutted kid gives Mikey a pale look, and then spits, _“It was just a joke,”_ under his breath as he and his friends disappear back into the playground populace. Mikey smiles pleasantly at them all, and waves them goodbye.

He’s glad he didn’t have to beat up any kids today. It’s just sad when he has to do that.

He turns back to Carter the ball of furry anger, and unnamed gentle giant. They’re staring at him suspiciously; Carter having placed himself in front of the other kid, though he’s half mohawk boy’s size and not much of a shield.

“You boys alright?” Mikey asks.

Carter looks like he wants to say something defensive, but mohawk kid puts a hand on the bear mutant’s head. “We’re fine,” He says politely. “Thank you.”

“We could’ve handled that,” Carter says.

“Carter, c’mon, be polite.”

“I had it!”

Mikey hears in Carter’s voice that he’s even younger than the human boy he’s protecting, and it shows especially as his petulant behavior continues. Kids, he keeps running into them and feeling all mushy about it. It makes Mikey feel old and parentally, spending time with Kusama and seeing these two kids watch out for each other.

“Hey, before I go,” Mikey questions, catching their attentions again. “mind showing me what those kids were bothering you about? I’m mad curious.”

“Oh, uh, sure,” Mohawk kid uncovers the object he’d been cradling protectively, and reveals a shiny, sleek machine in his arms. Streamlined and resembling a fish with wings. “It’s just a project I’m working on for a school club. It runs on soundwaves to fly. Nothing terribly special, Jacobs just likes to bother me because…”

 “Because his dad’s a bigoted asshole who’s against mutant-human families,” Carter spits.

“Carter!” Mohawk kid admonishes.

“What, he is!”

Brothers. They were brothers, a family. Huh, Mikey should’ve known. He’s seen this sort of behavior enough times from Casey and April, standing between the world and Mikey and his brothers.

The first years with their existences made public had been hard. Really, they might not have managed so well without their friends to back them up at every turn. It really drove home that they’d do anything for them, Casey and April. Even face down an entire world of people who wanted Mikey’s family to disappear.

“…that’s a real shame to hear,” Mikey says. “It always sucks when past generations pass on that sort of thing.”

Mohawk kid shrugs like it’s no big deal, and Carter screws up his expression. Poor kids. Mikey knows exactly what it’s like to have come from an unconventional family, and how sucky it is when the world is less than accepting.

While mutant and human relationships have gotten much better over the last couple decades, there are still things that haven’t managed to get with the century. Like mixed family setups. Mikey briefly wonders who adopted who, Carter or his human brother, and then decides it doesn’t really matter.

“Could you show me how your machine works?” Mikey asks, changing topics. “I’ve got an older brother who’s all about the tech stuff, so he might be interested in hearing about yours.”

Mohawk kid gives him a mildly surprised look, like he didn’t expect Mikey to hear about their family situation and just brush it off like that. Aw, that just makes Mikey sad.

“Sure, I just need to finish making a couple adjustments…”

Mikey gives an encouraging smile. “I’ve got all afternoon, so take your time.”

Carter keeps giving Mikey wary looks, but slowly relaxes as his brother starts explaining the finer parts of his invention. Mikey finds out Basque’s name a little while later, since they’d all gotten quite distracted by the little flying machine Basque created all by himself.

Mikey is _so_ introducing Basque to Donnie, the first chance he gets, because the kid is smart. Scary smart. Basque has at least ten certificates and awards hung on his bedroom walls apparently. Carter puffs up his chest and boasts about Basque winning multiple competitions with his inventions, even as Basque covers his face and tells his brother to stop. Mikey cackles at their antics.

Mikey is listening to the two brothers chatter together, the three of them sat at a picnic table not far off from the playground area, when a shadow falls over their table. Mikey glances up, and finds himself thoroughly dwarfed by the newcomer.

A very, _very_ large mutant stands over them all, dark eyes squinting down at them all.

Mikey barely raises an eyeridge, and smiles politely at the bear mutant. “Hello, ma’am. I’m guessing these two are yours?”

Basque and Carter’s very large mother inclines her head, and slides a pair of pale pink glasses up her long nose. She blinks, stops squinting now that she can see, and smiles with an even bigger mouthful of teeth than Carter does. “Why yes, these two would indeed be mine. I was lookin’ all over for them, and here I find them bothering you. Sorry if they’ve been any trouble.”

Mikey extends a hand to shake. “No trouble at all, they’ve just been giving an old turtle a rundown of what tech’s like for kids these days.”

“My name is Miriam, pleased to meet you,” Miriam says, taking Mikey’s large hand into her even larger one, and shaking with a strong grip.

Ha ha, nice business suit and cute pink glasses or not; Miriam is definitely not someone Mikey never wants to mess with, let alone get between her and her kids.

“Name’s Michelangelo,” Mikey grins. He loves people who are calm on the surface like this, and potentially dangerous underneath. It reminds him of Leatherhead in a warmly painful way. “Michelangelo Hamato.”

Basque drops the tools he’d been holding, letting them clatter on the wooden table.

“You’re _Michelangelo Hamato?”_ He exclaims.

“Hm? Oh, yep. That’s me.”

Basque flails. Carter and Miriam are also looking a little shocked; their nearly unnoticeable eyebrows way up on their fuzzy faces.

“You’re one of the Original Mutants,” Basque says, eyes wide and star struck. “You’re related to _Donatello Hamato!_ Oh my god!”

Oh yeah, they’re kind of famous. Like crazy famous. Saving the world and then helping carve the path to the future does that for one’s reputation; not to mention being some of the first of your kind. Mikey forgets sometimes, honestly. The glitz and glam of it wore off after his fifth decade, when he started to just want his own space again.

“I’m guessing you’re a fan of my bro’s work?” Mikey asks with a teasing smile.

Basque looks like he’s been given three Christmas’s worth of gifts all at once. _“YES.”_

“I was planning on introducing you two, actually. He’s always lookin’ for bright up and coming sorts.”

Basque makes a hilarious sound of surprise and joy, and then covers his face. Carter is glancing between them both, like he’s trying to figure out if Mikey’s doing anything wrong to his brother.

Miriam looks at Mikey carefully, with a level of respect and awe added in. “Would you really introduce my son to your brother?”

“Course,” Mikey says easily. “He’ll love ‘im, I can promise you that.”

Basque seems to nearly faint, hearing that statement. Mikey has to hold back himself from cracking up; it’s been a while since he met someone in person who so genuinely loved Donnie’s work. Or let slip who he himself was.

“…I’ll give you our contacts, then,” Miriam says, after judging Mikey’s truthfulness.

Mikey grins, and takes the numbers. Basque finds his composure just before his mom takes him and his younger brother home, and gives Mikey a heartfelt thank you for what he’s doing, and for what he already did for them. Mikey sees how badly Basque wants to do this, to be noticed by one of the top scientists in the entire _world,_ and pats the kid on his big shoulder; telling Basque he’ll get Donnie to meet him soon as his brother has time. Or before then, since Mikey will bother him until he does.

On a whim, sometime later, Mikey introduces Basque to Kusama. Kusama doesn’t have many friends, and from the sounds of it, neither does Basque. Plus, Kusama needs to reel in her enthusiasm about throwing herself into things, and Basque needs to figure out how to stand up for himself. Mikey thinks they’ll be good influences on each other.

Of course, Kusama meets Basque with customary suspicion and sizing up. He’s easily twice her height, three times her weight, and Mikey can almost see his somewhat pupil figuring out how best to take Basque down. Oh Kusama, always a funny to watch interact with people.

Kusama decides to accept the new addition to their social group, once Basque pulls out his little flying machine and explains how it works. It’s all done now, and he’s stopped by Mikey’s station to show his completed work.

The moment he explains that it runs on sound, and turns it on, Kusama opens her mouth and lets out a bloodcurdling shriek.

The machine leaps into the air, its fluttery little dragonfly wings beating rapidly as it lights up. Basque nearly leaps with it; startled by Kusama’s yelling.

Kusama nearly doubles over, laughing at how easy it is to get Basque off-balance. A moment later Basque starts laughing nervously, and slowly relaxes. Mikey sits on his couch, watching the two of them interact and figure out how much they like the other, and smiles to himself.

The lair is much warmer with other people ducking in and out of it. He’s coming to really enjoy it.

“So what’s it like, being taught ninjutsu by one of the First Mutants?” Basque asks casually, a few hours after he and Kusama had met.

Kusama stops midway through a demonstration of her high kicks; her foot above her head as she looks at Basque in confusion. “Being taught by the whowhatnow?”

“Michelangelo… one of the Original Mutants?” Basque says slowly.

Kusama keeps giving him a blank look, until it slowly dawns on her.

“Aaaaaaaaaaa,” Kusama says, eyes going wide. “aaaaaaa _aaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAA-”_

Basque gives her an equally wide eyed look. “You didn’t know?”

 _“NO?”_ Kusama says, startling enough that she loses her balance and falls onto the floor. She flips over nimbly, and stares at Mikey, who’s been sitting on the couch watching the scene unfold. “Excuse me, _what the actual fuck??_ You- you’re really-?”

Mikey raises his mug of tea. “In the flesh, kiddo.”

Kusama looks so surprised, Mikey cracks up laughing.

“How could you not know?!” Basque exclaims loudly. “He’s a ninja master turtle mutant living in the sewers, named _Michelangelo._ How many of those even exist the world?” he doesn’t wait for a reply. “One! One is the answer!”

“I don’t know!” Kusama exclaims back, just as loud. “I was distracted by how well he could punch people!”

Mikey’s sides hurt, and he has to put his tea on the coffee table before it spills.

 

 

 

It only takes a few weeks for the two of them to become inseparable, and it’s not uncommon for Mikey to pass by Basque with Kusama hanging off his shoulders while he works on a project, or Basque sitting on Kusama’s feet as she does crunches. They’re polar opposites in a lot of ways, but kind of fit together with a bizarre ease. Just like Mikey had been hoping that would.

They’re pretty damn adorable, and Mikey keeps on Donnie’s case about meeting Basque in person sometime this year. Donnie keeps ignoring those messages, claiming he has a billion other things to do.

Until Mikey gets a highly distracted call from Donnie one day, the holo-video turning itself on without him answering it and displaying Donnie’s pinchy worry face.

_“Mikey, I’ve got some bad news. Someone’s been messing with your security sensor coding, and I haven’t been able to track down the culprit just yet. I’ll need you to be more careful than usual, since we don’t know who this is-”_

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Mikey says, waving his hand dismissively. “That’s just Basque’s work. He improved it for you.”

 _“He- who? What?”_ Donnie blinks, glancing briefly at Mikey through the call, and then going back to furiously typing on his computers. He stares at the screen out of Mikey’s range of vision, and his expression does a number of interesting shifts. _“…Mikey, who is this Basque and where the hell did you find him?”_

“He’s the kid I’ve been trying to get you to meet for like, weeks now, Donnie.”

Donnie turns a very serious look to Mikey. _“You are to hold onto that boy until I find him and lock him into a future internship, do you hear me? If you let this kid slip, we might as well be losing a diamond studded golden egg down the drain.”_

“Now see, that’s what I’ve been _saying-”_ Mikey pauses his berating, seeing the corner of the holo screen blinking at him. “Oh, hold on, Leo’s calling.”

The screen opens as he presses accept, and Leo’s face fills the other half of the divided calls.

_“Hello? Hello? Mikey, are you getting any sound?”_

“Read you loud and clear, bro. You somewhere that’s got bad wifi again?” Last Mikey knew, Leo had popped over to Usagi’s dimension again, to get some time away from the hustle and bustle of earth. Maybe also to escape a bet he’d lost to April at cards a few months ago.

Like that’ll stop April for long. She’s no less scary than she was at eighteen, and she _will_ find Leo eventually. He’s fighting a losing battle like this. Mikey won’t remind him that though, since Leo knows damn well that he’s got to face the music sometime.

There are two people in their family you Do Not play cards with. Mikey, which he’s pretty smug about, and April.

Leo still forgets that rule sometimes, ha ha.

 _“Usagi’s disciples have been messing with the roof antennae again,”_ Leo says in a tired voice. Because people in Usagi’s dimension don’t quite _get_ technology a lot of the time, which means Leo’s stuff gets messed with on a regular basis. Leo blinks, and presses a finger to the screen. Probably adding another person to his side of the call. _“Oh, hey Donnie. Did I interrupt you and Mikey?”_

 _“No, not really,”_ Donnie says, still mostly focused on his typing. _“Just me telling him to not let go of a future Nobel Prize winner, even if he loses life doing so.”_

_“…what?”_

“I got another kid,” Mikey explains. “and Donnie wants to steal him from me.”

_“It’s for the betterment of all life on earth, I assure you.”_

Leo gives them both a despairing look. _“I leave you two alone for a few weeks, I swear.”_

“Speaking of, kind of, how’s Usagi’s kids?”

 _“…one of his pupils tried to mock assassinate me at dinner,”_ Leo says tiredly, and yet also proudly. _“She’s trying to convince me to teach her ninjutsu. Still.”_

 _“Uh huh, and how likely is that going to happen?”_ Donnie asks.

_“Very unlikely. You know how I feel about that sort of thing.”_

Mikey hums sympathetically. Leo’s had it rough, since they all started getting older and the fighting slowed down. Being a leader is a tough job, and its one he’s never envied of Leo. Too many big decisions to make and a whole lot of mistakes to shoulder when they’re made.

“You could send her this way if she’s that desperate for a teacher,” Mikey offers. “I’m sort of starting to get the hang of it. Or, you could set her on Raph.”

_“…the Raph option sounds funnier.”_

They all grin. Raph is still AWOL in the depths of space with Casey, so he is nowhere nearby to deter them from setting a hyper active ninja wannabe on him.

 _“I’ve sent an email to Basque’s family,”_ Donnie announces suddenly, his typing finally done with. Then, _“Huh, a mutant family who’s adopted a human kid. Don’t see many of those too often.”_

“Miriam makes excellent biscuits,” Mikey praises. “and Basque’s little brother is a tiny defensive fuzzy ball of protective instincts. It’s adorable.”

 _“Hm, yes, that’s nice,”_ Donnie says in his _I’m-not-really-paying-attention_ voice. _“Do you think a starting grant of a few hundred thousand would be good enough for his research funds?”_

“Dee, he’s barely fourteen. He’s still at robotics club level.”

_“Yeah, yeah. But you want to start them early, right?”_

Leo puts a hand over his eyes, and sighs into the microphone on his end of the line.

Mikey’s screen starts blipping in its other corner, and he mutes both his brothers’ calls while he answers Basque.

 _“OH MY GOD,”_ Is what Basque all but screams when he’s answered. _“YOUR BROTHER JUST EMAILED MY MOM AND I THINK THAT’S MORE MONEY THAN I’VE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE OH MY GOD-”_

Mikey gives Donnie a Look through their open video channel, and Donnie clearly pretends to not know what Mikey is currently dealing with. Leo just rolls his eyes, and holds up a scrap of paper that reads _I’ll call back when you’re all done making a mess of the future generation._

_“I HAVE TO CALL KUSAMA.”_

“Call me where?” Kusama says, the little almost sneaky enough sneak she is, appearing from behind Mikey, where he’d sensed her a whole five minutes ago.

 _“_ THE _DONATELLO HAMATO JUST EMAILED MY MOM AND I THINK HE’S TRYING TO GET ME TO WORK FOR HIM. KUSAMA I’M FOURTEEN HOW IS THIS HAPPENING.”_

Kusama starts congratulating Basque, missing Donnie signing off from his call and Leo as well. His brothers have abandoned him, assholes.

Mikey pats Kusama’s head as she and Basque freak out together, and he wonders what sort of disaster it’d be to get his family and the two of them all in the same room.

Probably a really entertaining one, ha.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in my head mixed families become the new Big Contention kind of social taboo whatever in the future, because people are assholes no matter what century.
> 
> basque's parents gave him up as a lil baby, so mama bear and smol determined bear are the only family he's ever known. obvs speaking he loves them and they love him and they've got a good thing going. (good families are SO RARE in TMNT, my god.)  
> miriam totally semi-adopts kusama the minute she walks into their house, bc kusama is a tiny little raggamuffin that looks like she's fights with wild dogs (she's been tempted), and so she gives the child a meal and a wet wipe whenever kusama will hold still long enough to do so.
> 
> also: listen, 'smol and fiesty' and 'big and slow to anger' are the best combination out there, okay? okay.
> 
> new b-team for Besties of the Year 2k90.

**Author's Note:**

> all the chapters will be posted soon, leave a comment and kudo at the bottom. :D


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